Carrot (10) Chilli (43) DIY (7) Lettuce (13) Lychee (3) Mint (16) Pok Choy (15) Potato (8) Spring Onion (14)

Sunday, April 03, 2016

Strawberries Summer 2015-2016





From mint leaves to mint tea leaves


Wash fresh mint leaves thoroughly and let them dry properly for a few days, you'll have some really nice mint tea leaves. Remember not to let wet mint leaves sit under hot sun, they'll die easily.

7 Types of Chilli for Summer 2015-2016


Type 1: Scotch Bonnet

Type 2: Unknown

Type 3: Spike Chilli

Type 4: Unknown


Type 5: Bird Eye

Type 6: Name unknown, not to spicy, wrinkled skins.

Type 7: Name unknown, spiciness unknown, haven't tried yet.



Scotch Bonnet Chill Progress 4 April


Summer is ending, autumn is approach and the Scotch Bonnet Chilli is still fruiting well.

New bird eye chilli seedlings April 2016


I started 2 pots of bird eye chilli seedlings in April 2016 using 100% used ground coffee (decomposed). Posted this photo to track growth. Current month temperature ranged from 18 degrees to 27 degrees, average humidity is about 45%. Let's see how well they will fare next month.

Chilli seeds in decompose bin


The photo shows very healthy bird eye chilli seedings grown in my decompose bin filled with used ground coffee. Zero care and near zero maintenance is required. Young chilli leaves are high in vitamin C, can be cooked lightly using olive oil in a fry pan and served as small side disn.

Spike Chilli


This Spike Chilli pot sprang into action very late in Summer 2016 (around March 2016). It matured very late and started fruiting heavily around March 2016 where Canberra experienced the longest summer and hottest summer month in 30 years.

Spike chilli has rating 5 on the heat scale but I don't feel this species is very spicy. I feel bird eye chill is spicier than this.

Balcony VIew 2016-04-04


Significantly trimmed chilli pots to boost fruit size.

Saturday, December 05, 2015

Balcony VIew 2015-12-05


How long can a 2 Litre self watering pot last? Using recycled milk bottle


5 December 2015
This bottle was full 5 days ago. Now is day 6, the bottle still 30% water left in it. I think it can last 3 more days. This is a test to see if the pot can stand 10 days without watering. This method is cheap using recycled milk bottle to provide consistent moisture to the chilli pots.

10 Jan 2016 - Returned from holiday and find many of chilli pots still survived. Several rainy days and the self watering milk bottles saved them from withering.

How to grow mint well

Photo: Pot A

Mint grows very rapidly in summer. There is no need to wait for it to grow too tall, like pot A. I use mint leaves in my fruit juice regularly, keep the pot well trimmed like pot B below so that more young leaves could be produced regularly. Consistent daily watering is very important to keep mint in good shape in summer.


Photo: Pot B

Sign of over fertilsing


Yellowing leaves showing sign of over fertilising. How to resolve this: water more, to dilute fertiliser


Chilli. Species unknown